


Home is When I'm With You

by HeysU



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Highschool AU, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Nonbinary Nerris, Slice of Life, aged up camp camp kids, boys in makeup, definite non-graphic violence, ered is an adult, established preston/max, friends who fight together, indian max, kinda OOC, max is like the mama bear of the group now, not heavy romance, not really into writing sex scenes, possessive max, possibly graphic violence if it suits me later, see some of ered's parents, slowburn harrison/neil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2019-07-02 01:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15786462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeysU/pseuds/HeysU
Summary: Little snippets of the gang's high school life.No real plot other than showing how the group has changed and grown closer, in my mind.The kids are all fucked up as we know, and their home lives aren't the greatest. After they grew too old for Camp Camp, they discovered that they all live in the same town. They kept in touch and as they grew older and became the family they needed.(Terrible at summaries, I know.)





	1. The Family You Choose

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my experiment to see how this fic will be liked and whether or not I'll continue to post and write it!
> 
> Each chapter will be loosely connected as they should be in order of when the events happen and nothing should contradict. However, each chapter will be like it's own little story. If that makes any sense. 
> 
> I haven't posted a new fic in a long time and I'm honestly trying to get back in the groove of writing.

Max was relieved when he finally reached the Millers’ house. 

It was still sunny and warm even though summer break had already ended. Max had immediately regretted wearing dark pants and a jacket out of the house, but he’d be damned if anyone but his friends or boyfriend saw him in his shorts. (It also had to do with the fact that he couldn’t be normal and have cargo shorts or something, but that’s a story for another time.) 

He was wearing a dark pair of jeans with a couple of holes and his signature blue jacket (though he had upgraded his style with a couple of sew on patches) with a black t-shirt underneath. His hair was messy as ever. And he had a singular black fingerless glove, which was the new addition to his aesthetic. 

It was times like these that Max regretted that he in some way cared about the way he looked. Otherwise, he would have walked naked to the Millers’ house. 

It had no business being 90 degrees while it was so close to fall. 

If he could have drove, he would have, but his shitty parents wanted nothing to do with him and he didn’t have money to buy his own car. So Max had to hitch a ride on the bus, who’s stop was over a mile away from the Millers’. 

Max was pissed that he was once again, the straggler. Everyone was already there. Even Harrison, whose parents refused to be in car with him unless absolutely necessary had gotten there before him somehow. Nerris’ parents had probably given him a ride, or maybe Nurf did. 

Max took a deep breath and sighed. There was no point in being pissed at the shitty hand life had dealt him. He was here and soon he’d be able to relax completely with the people he cared for. 

The Millers, as CIA or FBI or whatever agents were obviously pretty well off and able to own a home in a good neighborhood. Max knew personally there were 5 bedrooms in the house, a spacey basement with a theater room, and deluxe kitchen. 

Ered had it good, though she hadn’t really lived at home for 2 years or so. She had left to go board at her school after she had graduated high school. She had been back a couple of times, especially when she had dropped out of her first college semester. 

That was a tough time for Ered, though she luckily had amazing and caring parents who supported her while she figured out her life. A couple of months later and she was off to an Automotive Technology school. And even though Ered wouldn’t be home until the winter holidays, the two agents let her friends come over and hang out since they had the space. 

Max rang the doorbell, which was answered by one of Ered’s dads. It was Steve, the darker one. (The men allowed them to use their first names because of the confusion with their names.) 

“Hey, Mr. Steve.” 

“Hello, Max. Everyone’s downstairs. And there’s snacks up here if you want anything.” 

Max toed off his shoes and neatly laid them beside the eight other pairs of shoes lined up in a row along the wall beside the front door. “Thanks, Mr. Steve.” 

The man merely nodded before walking in the direction of the living room. 

Max made his way to the basement without extra prompting. He had been over their house enough to know where everything was. As he opened the door to the basement and began to traverse down the stairs, the sound of laughter reached his ears. In the dark, by himself, he let a uncharacteristically soft smile grace his face. He’d probably never tell them in such sappy words, but he loved them. 

Every single one of the kids who had gone to Camp Campbell with him had become his family. And may whatever god people believed in save them if they decided to fuck with his family. He finally had one. There was no way he was going to allow anything to keep him away from them. 

He rounded the corner on the stairway to see everyone in the main room. 

Nerris, Nikki, and Neil were on the big screen tv. They were playing some video game and barking commands at each other between curses. It seems they were being beat. Max could see Dolph lounging on a couch alternating between gazing at his phone or the game. Nurf and Harrison were on the other side of the room, playing Foosball. Though Nurf was the actual football player, it seemed the small magician with adept hands was beating him out. Space Kid was standing on the sidelines, cheering for both of them. And sitting in the recliner Max had claimed ages ago, was his boyfriend. 

Max had to had to seriously resist the natural urge of his face to soften as he gazed at the most important person in the world to him. Never in a million years had Max thought that he would actually date the Playwright, but he couldn’t have asked for a better person to hold his heart in their hands. 

His boy had done a lot of growing since their year at Camp Camp. He was still taller than Max; almost by a whole head. He was as skinny as ever which is what dubbed him the nickname beanpole. And he had kept his hair long, though he was wearing it pulled back in a small messy bun. 

Max walked his way over to his boy, a smirk across his face. He watched as Preston’s eyes lit up and he sat up in the chair. “And just where do you think you’re sitting? Unless I was mistaken, that’s my seat, Goodplay.” 

Preston levelled his with his own smug smirk. “No, I believe this is my seat, dear. After all, what’s yours is mine.” 

He was sitting there, all gorgeous with his sun-colored eyes half lidded and that satisfied look on his face. 

When Max was younger, he was sure that he wanted to punch that look off his face. Now, he really wanted to kiss him. But he refrained, as they were in company of literally everyone else (yeah, no, not because Max was nervous and had never kissed anyone before, never). 

Instead, Max reached under the taller boy, picked him up, and deposited him elsewhere and plopped his own behind into his chair. He was just about to gloat when instead, his boy sat down on his lap. 

“Just what do you think you’re doing, Goodplay?” Max asked, though he made no effort to move the boy now. 

Preston gazed down at him. He made a big show out of getting more comfortable. “Just making use of what’s mine, Johar. You are pretty soft.” 

Max narrowed his eyes and jabbed his boyfriend in the side. “You take that back!” 

Preston, the bastard, only laughed. 

Max leaned back and relaxed in the chair and took in the scene around him. 

After Camp Campbell had shut down, he had never imagined that he’d see any of these kids again. But, when they transferred into middle school, it was soon discovered that they all lived in the same county. 

They had all come a long way from their time 7 years ago. If you had looked at them now, you would have never guessed they would all consider themselves friends. Other than going through puberty, (which Max considers a blessing despite his boyfriend assuring him he was a cute little kid), they had all done some personal growing. Some of them you may not even recognize. 

Nurf, in addition to being some important football player (Max didn’t do physical activity unless it was Yoga or Just Dance - which he would beat every kid at), had joined the choir at school. His mom had been released from jail years ago and had gotten him involved in some church group. Nurf wasn’t incredibly religious, but he enjoyed the ambience, he said. Nobody judged him. He was still big and buff. Though he rarely lost his temper nowadays. 

Dolph was muscular as well, though nowhere near as dense as Nurf was. He was an amazing soccer player had joined the JROTC at his school. It was his second year and he was the highest ranking officer of the LET II’s. He had confessed that he was debating upon joining the US Army when he graduated. 

If not, he wanted to move to Germany. Even after all these years, his love for his country hadn’t diminished. His father was forever exasperated, but Dolph had been born in Germany. It was as much his country as the US was. He spent every summer there, but sometimes his friends would notice he was homesick. His skills at art had only grown. If he moved to Germany, Dolph was hoping to go to an art college there and make some sort of career out of it. HIs high school had even appointed him in charge of the school’s mural last year. 

Nerris had grown quite a bit themselves. They were still into roleplay and things like cosplay, but they usually dressed normally on most days. They had come out to the group two years ago about how they didn’t feel as if they were male or female and how they liked to dress however. Some days Nerris would dress up in a smart suit with a tie and wear cologne. Other days, you could catch them wearing a dress, with bows in their hair, and sparkly makeup. It just depended on their mood. 

Their confession hadn’t really been news to the group. There was no place for any of them to judge whatever made the kid comfortable. Max cussed at least once every five minutes and Nurf used to stab whatever made him angry. Everyone just respected Nerris and their pronouns. 

Nerris was actually the kid Max frequently went to for fashion advice. His own tastes could be a little… Unorthodox. And Nerris happened to be one of those kids who could pull off any look they wanted to. 

They were currently wearing an oversized sweater and leggings. Neil and Nikki were on either side of them. 

The “comedy trio” didn’t end up going to school together, but they had never truly grown apart. 

Neil was still the smart nerd. He got straight A’s and was in several advanced (even college level) classes. He was aiming for Valedictorian next year. His hair was still as curly and poofy as ever. He had dubbed it as the “jewfro”. He had ditched the turtlenecks (those were more Preston’s thing now) and instead wore those short sleeved button up shirts with weird designs. His favorite was a black on with little neon colored dinosaurs. Though today he was wearing a floral one. He lived with his dad on the weekends, but always made sure he was promptly returned to his mother. He didn’t hate his dad anymore, but he complained a lot about the man being too much because he was trying to “make up for lost time”. 

Nikki had embraced her feminine side, though she was still “tomboy”-ish. She had joined the cheerleading team, and wore her uniform proudly. But she was also on the school’s girl soccer team and volleyball team. She had ditched the two ponytails and usually wore her hair out or in complicated braids that she herself couldn’t do. That was the advantage of having Neil as your best friend and step-brother to be. (Yes, Candy and Carl were engaged. Yes, their wedding would be soon. Yes, the two had already been like siblings so long that they dressed in front of each other and it wasn’t awkward.) Neil had learned to braid his nieces’ hair and whenever he was over, would help Nikki with her own hair. Nikki was still the badass female who would use her high kicks to fuck your ass up. 

Harrison kept his mushroom/mullet-thing haircut. But he cut it a couple inches shorter. (You know so that his forehead was actually visible and the mullet no longer existed.) He was thin and lithe. He had a less muscle-y body type; his waist actually pulled in a bit, which he accentuated well (though unknowingly) with his waistcoats. He usually wore slacks and dress shoes, though if you caught him on more casual days, he may wear skinny jeans and a sweater over a dress shirt. He had given up with wearing the top hats (even the mini ones) though if he was really feeling himself, he may wear a fedora. He kept the white gloves on his hands unless he was alone with the Camp Camp kids. 

They used to ask him why until he ripped his glove and they’d been burned where they touched Harrison’s skin. The boy had been distressed for days over what happened and had locked himself in his house. Neil had been the one to convince him to come back. He had shown them many wonderful and half-terrifying things. Max would have had issues believing these feats were real if not for the time he threw up live animals at camp. 

Harrison could conjure the elements on demand. Sometimes things levitated. However, sometimes he had issues controlling his abilities. One time, it snowed in July because Harrison was ignoring Neil after he said something insensitive. He took giving the “cold shoulder” to a whole new level. Other times, he couldn’t touch people or he’d burn or shock them, though this was usually limited to when he was angry. He came in pretty handy when they forgot flashlights or lighters. 

His parents were still afraid of him, to an extent. They had been bolder with their words in the last couple years, specifically his mother. He never told the kids how bad things ever got, but if Max’s hunch was right, he’d have a visit to make. 

Space Kid was almost as naive and gullible as ever. Though that just made the group do their best to make sure no one harmed him. He was still interested in the stars and space, though he wasn’t sure about being an astronaut anymore. He had his own telescope that he used almost every night. 

His parents had actually signed his papers to allow him to get a tattoo as a minor. It was, of course, space themed. On his forearm, was a little portal into the cosmos with galaxy and pastel colors swirled together. 

He was one of those kids you could find on tumblr talking in quotes about the universe and the stars and the moon. But again, no one made any serious fun of him. Who were they to judge a kid’s way of coping with the shitty world? 

He obviously didn’t go around with a fishbowl on his head anymore. He instead wore comfortable jeans and t-shirts. Sometimes to spice up his look, he’d wear skinny jeans and sleeveless shirts. Nikki would tease him that he looked like a tiny fuck boy (he and Max were the same small height of 5’3”), but the boy would just wave them off because his little shirts had positive sayings or drawings of the moon or something. 

Max tugged lightly at the hairs at the base of his boy’s neck who hummed at the feeling. 

This is where he wanted to be more than any place in the world. More than his shitty house. More than school. More than Canada or some other country. He wanted to be right here, surrounded by the familiarity and camaraderie of his family. 

He wanted to be where Nikki and Neil squabbled over who was supposed get the upgrade this time on their game. He wanted to be where Nurf looped an arm around Harrison’s shoulders only to give him an affectionate noogie. He wanted to be where Space Kid smiled as bright as the sun. He wanted to be where Dolph shouted encouragement about “beating the opposition”. He wanted to be where Nerris clucked their tongue at everyone’s antics as they saved their asses by annihilating everyone with a special move. He wanted to be where his boyfriend was a warm presence in his lap, head tucked on top of his. 

He was suddenly very grateful he had taken the bus to the Millers’ today. 

He would do anything for these kids. He would die for these kids. He would kill for these kids. 

They weren’t the family he was given. They weren’t the family he had expected, or maybe even wanted. But he had them now. And anyone that tried to get in between their happiness would have to answer to him. 

“So guys, how’s hell on Earth been?”

Groans all around.

”Maaaaaaaaaax, it’s so terrible! I can’t stand these kids, they’re so-”


	2. Now's Not the Time for You to Be Noble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually watch football, though that's not really the focus of this chapter. 
> 
> Homecoming games result in revealing character development.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been awhile. I'm trying to update only when I already have the next chapter after written up.  
> Also, I'm not sure how to write graphic fight scenes or anything so I hope my chapters from now on make sense. I'll do my best though because there's going to be quite a few altercations.

It was a Friday night. The night before Homecoming.

The Homecoming football game was held at Thomas Nelson High.

It was the home game for Nurf. Even though he was the only one of the Camp Camp kids who played football, everyone had shown up in support for him. Neil, Max, and Preston sat on their school’s side. On the other side, was Nerris, Harrison, Dolph, and Space Kid.

Thomas Nelson High and Eddison High were rivals, so Nikki, as an Eddison cheerleader, had to cheer for the opposing team. Max wasn’t really one for sports, but he would always show up to support their friends. And since they were all going to Homecoming the following night, they had decided to just go through with the full experience.

* * *

Thomas Nelson won the game 53-42.

Nurf had been the cause for their last goal. He had tackled the runner who had the ball. The ball fell from the runner’s hands into a Thomas Nelson player’s hands who made a run for it and was able to evade everyone and make a goal.

Nurf was being clapped on the back by a couple of his football buddies, when suddenly he was shoved sideways. Nurf stumbled a step or two before righting himself.

It was the boy he had tackled. “What the _fuck_ was that?!”

“What are you talking about?” Nurf asked him.

“We haven’t lost a game in over a year. What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You cost us our streak!” The boy had pulled off his helmet and was glaring at Nurf.

Nurf snorted. “The fuck? I played the game, kid. I did what I was supposed to do. You lost - deal with it.”

The boy got red in the face.

Nurf could quickly see he was getting to his boiling point and internally sighed. He wasn’t looking for any sort of trouble. Honestly, it was only a game! Nurf held his hands up placatingly.

“Hey, look, man. Sorry this didn’t go as you’d have liked, but-”

Nurf wasn’t ready for the punch the other boy landed in his face. He was knocked back a little, and was about to say something else when the boy swung again. It was all Nurf could do to dodge. He knew he was strong.

He could probably break the kid in half if he wanted to. But he had learned from his days at Camp Campbell that sometimes talking with words was better than talking with fists. He could do so much more with his strength like play sports, or help lift things, or defend someone. He didn’t always have to harm.

So Nurf dodged as many of the blows as he could, hoping to tire the boy out.

* * *

Max hadn’t immediately noticed when the fight broke out.

Preston had just come back for the bathroom and Max had turned to greet his boyfriend with a soft smile. They talked lowly to each other when suddenly they heard a scream.

Whipping his head around, Max was greeted with the sight of his best friend behind punched hard in the mouth. Max saw red.

“Over a damn _game? I’ll kill him!_ ”

Max fought against his boyfriend’s hold who desperately tried to keep Max away from the field. If Max got another referral this quarter, the principal would call his parents. That wasn’t an option.

Preston did his best to quell the scorching anger running rampant in his own heart as his eyes narrowed at the errant football player. He was lucky that Preston cared so much about Max, otherwise he’d let hell loose.

* * *

Nikki had just finished giving her last cheer of the game.

_“That’s alright, that’s okay! Shake it off, shake it off!”_

The moment her team captain allowed the cheer team to scatter, Nikki was hustling to her bag. However, she barely moved two feet before she heard a scream of pure rage. She heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh and whirled around.   
She was just able to register the flurry of a red and yellow jersey ( _her_ school colors) clad arm crash into the face of one of _her_ friends. _Her_ family.

Ooooo, a bitch was about to die tonight.   
Nikki didn’t remember moving, but she must have, because the next thing she knew, she was beside the boy who had the _fucking audacity_ to put their hands on someone who Nikki considered hers. Someone who Nikki cared about.

She roughly seized the front of the scum’s jersey and wrenched him to face her. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

The boy’s face went slack when he processed what he was seeing. His lapse allowed Nurf to put distance between them.

Nikki tightened her grip and was going to shake an answer out of him when he was able to jerk away from her.

“Who’s this bitch? What the fuck are you talking about?! Why are you siding with the enemy?!” The boy glanced between the two of them and his face transformed from confused into disgusting expression of self-satisfaction. “Oh, I get it. Does he pipe you good, bitch?”

Somewhere in the back of Nikki’s mind, a part of her was laughing because she couldn’t understand why defending a friend meant that she had to be fucking him, but whatever. But most of her was livid and her blood was boiling with the need to punch this punk in the face.

So she smiled her nastiest smile, baring her sharp pearly teeth. “And if he does?”

The boy momentarily lost his composure, and his expression was one of confusion tinged with the beginnings of fear.

Oh, he’d get what was coming to him. The fool gave her a less firm smirk.

“Why waste such a hot body on this trash? Bet I could fuck you better, baby.”

Nikki laughed so hard she would have keeled over if she didn’t have a fool to possibly maim, if Max would let her. (Though she knew he wouldn’t. _“Not in public, Nikki. How will I be able to keep you out of jail when everyone can clearly identify you?” “No, Nikki. If you’re going to maim the person, you might as well just put them out of their fucking misery. Plus, you’ll be leaving a witness to squeal whenever you let your guard down.” “I know of your slightly sadistic tendencies, Nikki. But we’re trying to be discrete here. I am not mopping up blood after you unless we gotta bury a body anyway.”_ )

“With what dick, kid?” Nikki animatedly looked down towards his crotch.

The boy flushed even more than before. He was as red as a tomato and looked as if steam might soon burst from his ears.

If these were different circumstances, Nikki would have pressed her hand to this boy’s forehead and mocked him about running a fever. But at that moment, Nikki hoped the heat pooling in his face melted his brain.

He seemed unsure of what to do before he launched himself at her, aiming to punch her. She ducked under his arm, twirling behind him. She used his momentum against him and kicked him hard in the back.

The boy flailed, but could not stop himself from landing flat on his face.

Nikki twisted one arm behind him, pushing her knee between his shoulder blades. With her other hand, she pressed his neck into the ground. She leaned her head down low beside his ear. She listened to him struggle to fill his lungs with air.

“You’re lucky I don’t scar up that face of yours, you cunt. Now, unless you want me to actually beat your worthless ass in front of all these people, I suggest you leave. Just think, the football team… Any cheerleaders you might want a piece of. All of them will see what a pussy you are, being beaten by a girl,” she growled.

The boy let out a little whimper before she eased up on his neck the slightest bit.

“Okay! Okay, I’ll leave!” He gasped out.

“Good choice,” she told him.

“Now,” she whispered directly into his ear. “Don’t let me ever catch you touching anything that belongs to me ever again.”

She rubbed his face into the ground for good measure before she let him go. She brushed her hands off, satisfied with her work. She held out her hand to her friend, who took it.

Nurf was going to have a bruise on his face, but otherwise he looked mostly unharmed.

Nurf let her lead them to the bleachers where they knew Max and the other Campers would be. Nikki could feel his hand shaking minutely. She sighed a little, though in fond exasperation.

“You could have beat his ass half-way across the world, you know. He wasn’t that tough, Nurf.”

“I know,” he told her quietly. “But I caused so much pain before… I promised myself that I would only harm another person purposefully if it was to protect something or someone important to me. I still feel angry all the time. I’m afraid that if I start, I won’t be able to stop.”

Nikki squeezed his hand reassuringly. “You should be important to yourself. You are worth defending. And you don’t need to worry about losing control or anything like that. We’re here to help you and protect you, even from yourself. If you go overboard, we'll be right there to support you, Nurf. You’re that important thing to us.”

She felt him grip her hand tighter as well and pointedly made no comment on the slight sniffle she heard.

“Thank you,” she heard him say so softly that the words were almost inaudible.

She smiled, not answering. Her feelings weren’t something she could put into words well enough anyway.

Max watched the proceedings, feeling satisfaction curl in his gut like a sated lion. He would have preferred to deal with the fucker himself, but his initial wish for bloodshed was quenched when he saw the fool’s face smeared in the mud.

Max was sure that if anyone saw him, he’d be wearing his maniacal grin.

His boyfriend would have probably mentioned it if his adorable face wasn’t pressed into Max’s throat. Preston had his arms wrapped firmly around Max’s waist.

Neil was on the other side of Max, snickering quietly even as he wrung his hands. Max huffed a little at his friend who could take pleasure in someone’s pain and humiliation even as he was overtaken by nerves.

Max watched as Nikki and Nurf made their way from the field, and Dolph, Nerris, Harrison, and Space Kid exited the bleachers on the opposite side.

When Nurf finally arrived, Max managed to wriggle out of his boyfriend’s hold and stand up. He put his hand on the side of Nurf’s arm and rubbed it a little, knowing his friend wasn’t in the mood for large shows of affection.

Max kept his voice low but imbued it with all the warmth he felt for his friend. “Gaylord, say the word and that insignificant speck of dirt will be swept off the face of the earth. You are worth ten million of him and I know of your little conviction. But next time, I’m gonna need you to at least trip the bastard up or something. I don’t think I can handle another scene like that before I start cracking skulls.”

Max saw one of the side’s of Nurf’s mouth quirk up.

“Gotcha,” he said simply.

Max smirked back, knowing his message had been received.

By this time, Dolph and the others had arrived.

Space Kid and Nerris poked and prodded Nurf to make sure he was uninjured. Harrison made his way to stand beside Neil and Dolph simply observed.

Concluding that everything was, for the most part, alright, Nerris gave a sigh of relief.

“Alright, so that was really scary and nerve-wracking, guys, and I suddenly feel like I’ve aged at least three decades,” they said. “So can we please do something really low stress tonight. Like let’s just go get ice cream or something.”

Max nodded his approval. “Of course. Everyone, let’s go get some ice cream before we gotta head home.”

And if everyone was a little more clingy and Nurf was the center of attention that night, no one said anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick question! I wrote about the Homecoming game and planned to write about the dance, but I didn't get too far before scrapping it. Should I try to write about it again or skip to the next chapter? I'm trying to do this in order of events though, so if I skip it now, I'm probably not going to come back to it later.


	3. You Don't Get to Call My Kid a Freak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nerris is targeted because of their gender and Max can't have that...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to find a non-annoying way to write text conversations, but I wanted to show the cute nicknames I gave them. So I hope it isn't too annoying. Some chapters I may not talk about texting at all but other times it might be necessary. (I feel like it would be worse if I wrote "Max got a text that read 'blah blah'," every single time.)  
> And if any text nicknames are unclear, I'll always put the nicknames at the beginning of the chapters!
> 
> Ethereal Elf Entity = Nerris  
> Magic Boy = Harrison

Nothing was out of the ordinary so far.  
  
Max was doing independent work in his language arts class, reading and annotating a text so that he could answer the questions that went with it. On his desk, facedown, his phone vibrated.  
  
That wasn’t terribly unusual. Sometimes the kids texted him to complain about school. Other times, they may be sending him posts on instagram or snapchat. Max resolved to finish the text before he looked at his phone. The teacher didn’t always mind kids being on their phones, but Max wanted to keep his grade in this class high.  
  
His phone vibrated again.  
  
He glanced at it, but continued to highlight the passage. “And with that, the King sent his-”  
  
Again.  
  
Max irritably capped his highlighter and flipped over his phone. He could feel the moment his heart skipped a beat.  
  
**From Magic Boy  
** ***Hey, Max. Nerris just got sent to the nurse’s office. They won’t let me out of class to see them.  
**   
**From Magic Boy  
** ***Some kid punched Nerris a couple of times. I think their face is gonna bruise.  
**   
**From Magic Boy  
** ***The guy threatened that if Nerris didn’t act like a girl like they’re “supposed to”, then he’ll beat them up again.  
**   
Max shoved himself out of his seat quick. The legs of the chair scraping on the tile floors startled the others in the room. Max was already shoving everything in his bag.  
  
Max texted Harrison back, fingers moving quickly.  
  
**To Magic Boy  
** ***Text me when you find out more. I’m omw.  
**   
“Maxwell?” The teacher asked, concerned.  
  
Max was striding towards the door now, with purpose. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Emergency. I’ll turn in my work next class.”  
  
The teacher stood, “Maxwell, you can’t just-”.  
  
Max didn’t turn around.  
  
“I am.”  
  
He was on his way to Nurf’s classroom. He was going to take his keys and drive to Nerris’ school. However, if Nurf wanted to tag along, Max had no objections.  
  
The halls were empty thankfully, so that Max didn’t have to explain why he was out of class. But even if a teacher had tried to talked to him, he wouldn’t have stopped. Someone had fucked with one of his kids and they would pay for it.  
  
Finally reaching Nurf’s class, Max wrenched the door open. At the abrupt sound, every eye in the class was focused on him.  
  
“Nurfington, keys. It’s an emergency.”  
  
Nurf’s eyes narrowed and Max could tell he was debating on whether he was coming along or not. He jerked his head in a gesture of “come on”, making the decision for him. Then he left the classroom, not bothering to look back. Nurf was coming and he had no time to waste.  
  
To his credit, Nurf didn’t ask any questions until they got into the pick-up truck and had started it.  
  
“Where to?”  
  
“Eddison,” Max said sharply. He wasn’t going to relax until he saw his friend and then castrated the fucker who thought they could lay hands on someone that belonged to him.  
  
When Max had reigned in his temper enough to speak, although in clipped sentences, he explained the full situation to Nurf. He could hear his friend’s hands tighten around the steering wheel.  
  
He smirked bitterly. He wasn’t going to be the only one out for blood.

* * *

Max and Nurf strode into the school with no concern as to whether they’d be allowed in. They walked into the main office, only stopping to ask the flustered secretaries where the principal’s office was.  
  
When they reached the principal’s office, Max threw open the door.  
  
“What the fuck is going on here?”  
  
Everyone’s eyes immediately snapped to his.  
  
Nerris’ parents were already there, sitting before the principal’s desk with Nerris sitting beside them. The three of them had to turn in their seats to be able to see him.  
  
Nurf quietly shut the door, keeping guard of the outside.  
  
Max saw his kid’s face and felt his eyes start to burn with the beginnings of tears. Nerris’ face was going to swell up and spots of their skin were starting to darken where some fool punched them in their face. One of the lenses in their glasses was broken even though the frames were intact.  
  
There was a war raging between the side of him that wanted to gather Nerris in his arms to hold them forever and the side that wanted to murder the dumbass.  
  
“Max,” Nerris breathed his name feebly, like a prayer.  
  
Max allowed a moment of weakness as he crossed over to the chair they were seated at. He gently held their face by the chin and tilted it to look at the damage.  
  
“You’re going to be okay, honey,” he said quietly. “This will all fade in a week and as soon as we get it some ice, the swelling will go down.”  
  
Nerris said nothing as they stared up at him.  
  
Max gently let go, before beginning to rip into the principal. “Why the fuck do they not have any ice? Did you not send them to the nurse?”  
  
The principal was a slim little woman who immediately flushed red. “No, there was no time-”  
  
“No time?! But you had time for their parents to arrive?”  
  
That shut the woman’s mouth.  
  
Max let that sink in for a moment. He wanted an answer.  
  
“Who - who are you? You shouldn’t be here and I won’t have you speak to me that way, young man,” the woman said when she had regained her voice.  
  
Max stepped around Nerris’ chair to stand directly in front of the principal’s desk, still letting it separate them. He was truthfully no taller than the mouse of a woman, but Max was an expert at intimidation. He leaned over the desk with blazing eyes and a snarl that made him seem like he _loomed_.  
  
“I will talk to you however the fuck I want where it concerns my children. Especially when you’ve done a terrible job at keeping them safe. Where the fuck is that shitstain and his asshole parents? Because it seems here that this is awfully one-sided,” Max watched with a sick sense of satisfaction as the woman shrunk in her seat. His anger wasn’t anywhere near sated yet, however.  
  
“Now answer me, lady. What the fuck is going on?”  
  
“You have to admit that the boy was only doing what anyone else would have done!” She finally burst out. “It’s just so unnatural! If she would try to fit in more and act like the girl she actually-”  
  
The woman didn’t have a chance to finish her statement, because the next thing she knew, her desk was flying across the room.  
  
Everyone else in the room flinched.  
  
The woman’s eyes looked as if they might pop right out of her head.  
  
“I dare you to fucking finish that, bitch.” Max’s chest heaved with barely kept at bay rage.  
  
“This child is no more female than I am. And no more male than you are. That’s how they fucking feel and you’re going to shut the fuck up about it. You’re going to respect their fucking identity. Because if you don’t,” he took a menacing step towards the now trembling woman. “I’ll be after your sorry ass next.”  
  
Max cast her one last look of disgust from where he stood over her before turning on his heel.  
  
Nerris and their parents watched him with wide eyes as well.  
  
Max sighed and knelt in front of his friend.  
  
“I’m sorry you guys had to see that,” he said softly, making sure their eyes met. “After this, I need you to take Nerris home, please. Get them some ice for their bruises and make sure they’re comfortable.”  
  
Max knew their parents would have done so anyway, but it made him feel more at ease to know he had given them tasks to do. With his peripheral vision, he could see them nodding. _Good._  
  
“Nerris, where is he?”  
  
The kid took a shaky breath before answering. “His name is George Thompson. He’s in room 110. White, blue eyes, brown hair cropped short.”  
  
Max smiled with as least bloodthirst as was possible at that moment. “It’ll be dealt with.”  
  
Nerris nodded.  
  
Max stood from where he was kneeling. He nodded to each of Nerris’ parents who were no longer looking at him with alarm.  
  
Nurf could see Max walking towards the exit from the small window in the middle of the door and opened it accordingly.  
  
The smaller boy turned around one last time to give the principal a cold look. “You’re gonna want to clean up this mess and think about how you could be a less shitty person.”  
  
With that, he marched away.

* * *

It had been decided that just barging into a classroom filled with almost 30 other people and proceeding to beat one of them would not be a good idea. So that was why instead of immediately laying into the little cockroach when he sees him, Max is politely knocking on the classroom’s door before opening it.  
  
“Excuse me,” he says timidly, falsely. “I’m looking for George Thompson? The principal wants him.”  
  
The boy who stood from a sea of sniggering idiots looked like the typical jock. He was smaller than a football player though, so maybe he played basketball or ran track or something instead. He gave someone a fistbump on his way out, sporting what he probably thought was a charming smile.  
  
Max fought to keep his face from darkening.  
  
It probably would have been if his knuckles weren’t red from where _he’d tried to punch Nerris’ eyes shut_.  
  
He forced himself to breathe calmly as the boy sidled up to him.  
  
“I’ve never seen you around before,” George said conversationally.  
  
“I’m in the year below you,” Max replied lowly.  
  
George hummed as they walked side by side, taking in the kid he’d never seen before.  
  
“Well, I guess I’m caught,” the jock laughed.  
  
Max didn’t turn to look at him, but followed his movements with his eyes.  
  
“I hit this little freak who didn’t understand she had a fucking vagina.” The boy tossed his head back with an ugly laugh that made Max want to rip his tongue out. “I wonder if she learned her lesson or if I’ll have to show her more clearly, you know?”  
  
Max suddenly stopped walking and turned to the other boy.  
  
George stopped too, looking at him in a confused way, obviously not understanding what was the hold up.  
  
“Oh, I know,” Max’s smile was vicious as he shoved George into the empty classroom’s doorway.  
  
Nurf, who was lying there in wait the whole time, caught him before spinning and thrusting the boy more harshly onto the ground.  
  
George groaned and tried to get up, but Nurf’s heavy foot landing in the middle of his back stopped that. There was no other sound than George’s harsh breaths and Max’s footsteps as he approached the fallen form.  
  
“You thought you could fuck with someone who was mine?”  
  
“I don’t even know you, man!” The jock burst out.  
  
Max tsked, causing Nurf to add more weight onto his leg.  
  
George grunted.  
  
“Oh, but you’re going to know me very well when we’re done with you, George Thompson.”

* * *

It was 20 minutes later when Nurf hauled the shaken boy out into the hallway.  
  
He couldn’t stand.  
  
Max stepped out of the abandoned classroom first and condescendingly patted the boy’s head.  
  
“I’m sure you’ve ‘learned your lesson’, George,” Max mocked cruelly. “I would hate to have to ‘show you more clearly’.”  
  
George shook his head frantically, whimpering pathetically.  
  
Max and Nurf laughed. “Good. Let’s go, Nurfington.”  
  
Together, they left the school.  
  
Just as Max was about to get into Nurf’s car, his phone vibrated in his back pocket. He took it to look at it.  
  
**From Ethereal Elf Entity  
** ***My parents said you guys could come over. We’ve got pizza and ice cream.  
**   
**From Ethereal Elf Entity  
** ***Harrison already said he’d be over after school ends  
**   
Now, how could Max say no that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write about homecoming or Halloween first possibly, but I haven't had any inspiration for those and I really wanted to post this chapter! I hope you guys liked it.


	4. It'll Rot Your Teeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to include this chapter even though it is more self-indulgent. I haven't been able to write the next chapter after this, and I thought some of you might enjoy it. I did write a good bit of this chapter as a text conversation. I hope that's not too irritating. 
> 
> Also, here I'm going to include everyone's cute nicknames in Max's phone:
> 
> Magic Boy = Harrison  
> Ethereal Elf Entity = Nerris  
> Astrological Disaster = Space Kid/Neil  
> Dr. Frankenstein = Neil  
> Extreme Sports Barbie = Erid  
> Agent of Chaos = Nikki  
> Romeo = Preston  
> Boss = Max  
> Voted Most Adorable = Dolph  
> Would Also Stab His Dad = Nurf

As much as Max wanted to see his friend and make sure Nerris was okay, he knew that he couldn’t show up to their house still keyed up from the events of earlier. He texted them that he and Nurf would be over shortly before instructing the boy to take his time when driving.  
  
Max rolled down the windows of the pick up truck, allowing the both of them to enjoy the cool breeze of the October weather.  
  
He created a new group chat excluding Nerris.  
  
**To “About the Elf kid” group chat**  
***In case you guys weren’t informed yet, some asshole decided that Nerris was a fucking punching bag today**  
  
**To “About the Elf kid” group chat**  
***The matter’s been dealt with. Nurf and I are on our way to their house.**  
  
It wasn’t long before the group chat was filled with texts from everyone clambering to be heard.  
  
**From Agent of Chaos  
** ***Wtf??? Why did no one tell me?? I was just in stupid Spanish class**  
  
**From Romeo**  
***Good heavens! Is Nerris alright??!**  
  
**From Dr. Frankenstein**  
***Has the matter been dealt with permanently though? Because I can make an untraceable poison**  
  
**From Extreme Sports Barbie**  
***Wtf do you guys get up to at school? Do I need to come down?**  
  
**From Agent of Chaos**  
***I’m fucking serious. Who did it? I probably know them**  
  
**From Voted Most Adorable**  
***...I’m with Neil on the poison idea.**  
  
**From Dr. Frankenstein**  
***That’s two votes**  
  
**To “About the Elf kid” group chat**  
***Nobody’s fucking poisoning anybody**  
  
**From Dr. Frankenstein**  
***aww..**  
  
**To “About the Elf kid” group chat**  
***yet**  
  
**From Dr. Frankenstein**  
***yess!!**  
  
**From Extreme Sports Barbie**  
***Is no one concerned about going to jail?**  
  
**From Agent of Chaos**  
***no**  
  
**From Dr. Frankenstein**  
***I said it was untraceable**  
  
**From Extreme Sports Barbie**  
***you right, that’s cool then**  
  
**From Astrological Disaster**  
***Responsible-Adult-Erid agrees!**  
  
**To “About the Elf kid” group chat**  
***Shut up already. We don’t want to crowd the parents so Nurf, Harrison, and I will hang out with them tonight. You guys make sure to check up on them though. We’ll have a full meeting another day**  
  
**From Agent of Chaos**  
***Aye aye captain!**  
  
Max smiled a little at the chat before turning his phone screen off. He was beyond grateful for the friends he had and how much they cared about each other, even if he would never say it out loud.  
  
He caught Nurf smirking at him a little and raised an eyebrow back. The older boy just huffed, amused and shrugged before focusing back on the road.  
  
Max’s phone buzzed a couple more times in his lap, but he paid it no mind as he looked out the window.  
  
Everything was going to be alright.

* * *

When they got to Nerris’ house in the suburbs, school was only in session for another half hour. Harrison would be by soon riding Nerris’ bus. He had done it enough times anyway.  
  
Nerris’ dad opened the door and let the two in. They had been over enough times to know where the living room was which is where they found Nerris curled up in a blanket on the couch.  
  
Nerris’ mom sat in one of the chairs in an alcove in the corner, reading a book. She glanced when she heard them walk in and gave them a little wave and warm smile.  
  
On the coffee table in between the couch and the large tv, there were two unopened boxes of pizza.  
  
“Nerris,” Max said softly. “Have you eaten anything yet?”  
  
The teen sat up, yawning, and unravelling themselves from their cocoon. “No, I was waiting for you guys.”  
  
Max frowned a little. “You shouldn’t have waited for us to eat. You need the food, plus it probably got cold.”  
  
“Don’t worry about,” Nerris waved their hand dismissively. “I wanted to wait. Plus, pizza’s okay when it’s cold.”  
  
They reached for the boxes, but they were quickly snatched from the coffee table by Max.  
  
“Hey!”  
  
“No it most definitely is not okay,” he sniffed. “I’m going to go heat this up and get you some water.”  
  
“But I wanted soda!”  
  
“You can have soda after water,” Max called over his shoulder. “Be back.”  
  
In the middle of Nerris’ kitchen was a small island with a couple of stools at it. Nerris’ dad occupied one of them, writing in some notebook.  
  
“Hey, Mr. Shawn,” Max greeted politely.  
  
Shawn looked up and smiled at the boy, pausing momentarily. “Hello, Max! Did you need something?”  
  
Max shook his head as he rifled through the cupboards until he found a large plate. “Just heating up some pizza for Nerris.”  
  
He slipped a half of the first box of pizza onto the plate and put it in the microwave. While that was heating up, he puttered around the kitchen, pouring glasses of water and soda.  
  
“Hey, Max,” Shawn said softly. Max turned to face the older man. “I don’t always agree with your methods, or practice them myself… But thank you for taking care of my child.”  
  
Max allowed a tiny smile to grace his face. “Of course. I protect what’s mine.”  
  
Instead of troubling the man, somehow that possessive statement set his mind at ease.

* * *

Soon after the first pizza was all heated and the trio was seated in front of the coffee table, Harrison arrived.  
  
Max sighed when he realized he would have to get up again. (He wasn’t sure how the boy did it, but Harrison could pack away half a large pizza by himself.)  
  
When he began to hoist himself from the floor however, Nerris’ mom put a hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly. “I’ll get it, Max. Go ahead and relax.”  
  
Max mirrored the expression and allowed himself to wind down.  
  
His friends were safe, even as Nerris still had to nurse their face with ice, and there were a couple of adults who took responsibility themselves. It was almost a foreign concept to Max, what with his own parents not caring, for lack of a better term. But Becca and Shawn were good parents. They always took care of Nerris, knew what they needed to cure their bad moods, and fully accepted their child’s identity.  
  
He was relieved that Nerris had such wonderful parents like them in their life.

* * *

Nerris’ parents usually wouldn’t allow the kids to stay so late on a school night, but they made an exception that time. Nerris wasn’t going to school tomorrow anyway. Their parents were still leery about the bully because the principal hadn’t suspended him or even gave him detention.  
  
Max was fairly positive that the boy would never lay a hand on Nerris again, but he figured Nerris would appreciate the break anyway.  
  
A free day off from school? You better take that deal.  
  
The four friends spent their time joking around and playing games. Harrison and Nerris had played some fighting game on the PS4. They had all played Monopoly on the wii for an extra long time. (Nurf won, by the way.) Max had allowed Nerris to rope them all into a Harry Potter themed version of Clue.  
  
And as it got later, they all began to wind down and talk softly to each other as they all sprawled on the couch.  
  
Nurf had a curfew of 10, courtesy of his released mother and had to extract himself from the doggy pile. “Come on, you guys. I’ve got to drive Harrison home and you know he lives out in the boonies.”  
  
It was true, Harrison’s parents were of the mind that technology was bad for the new generation. They lived out in the woods, secluded as a way to “protect” themselves from “mortal sin”. Harrison was lucky they allowed him into the public school system.  
  
The only reason he had a phone was because Max and Erid had pooled together to buy him one after Nerris told everyone he didn’t have one. Harrison was very sure to keep its existence secret, though it wasn’t very hard when his parents usually avoided him like the plague.  
  
Max and Harrison both got up as well, trying to ignore the sad eyes of Nerris. They were probably still shaken up a bit and needed some company.  
  
“Max, are your parents home today?” Nerris asked as he straightened his clothes.  
  
“Nah,” he replied.  
  
“Then can you stay?”  
  
Max’s hands paused.  
  
Nurf and Harrison turned to them to watch, both wearing amused looks on their face. Max obviously would rather be here than at his cold home alone, but he would never ask himself.  
  
“I mean, there’s no reason I can’t,” he said slowly. “But I don’t want to put your parents out or-”  
  
“Mom!” Nerris threw back their head and called, interrupting the boy.  
  
Becca poked her head around the kitchen doorway. “Yes, Nerris?”  
  
“Nurf and Harrison have to go. But Max’s parents left him alone again. Is it okay if he stays?”  
  
Max withheld a wince when Nerris’ mom turned her worried eyes to him.  
  
“Of course! Have they been gone long, Max? This has to be the fourth time I’ve heard about this, this month!”  
  
“It’s been a, a couple of days,” Max said softly.  
  
“Days?!” Nerris’ mom gasped, scandalized.  
  
Truthfully, Max preferred when they left him home alone over what they’d do if they were there. However, it was true that he’d have somehow feed himself as the cupboards were bare. He learned better than to try grocery shopping for more than a couple of days worth of food. If he were to try to save food to cook later, he’d find that someone had eaten it without sparing him a crumb.  
  
“What kind of parents - Shawn!” Becca called before entering the kitchen again.  
  
They could hear a muffled, “Yes dear?”, before Becca continued loudly.  
  
“Max is staying over tonight! Get out the air mattress! I’ll get the sheets!”

* * *

It was some time later, after Nurf and Harrison had left, that Max felt Nerris crawl beside him under the covers.  
  
He was laying on an air mattress on the floor instead of in the guest room because Nerris preferred their friends to be close when they slept over. Usually to do things like this.  
  
The teen reached out for their older friend’s hand, grasping it firmly.  
  
“Thank you,” they whispered.  
  
Max squeezed their hand back. “I would do that and more for you, Nerris.”  
  
It was quiet for a moment. Max almost believed that Nerris was falling asleep.  
  
“I know.”


	5. It's Not Just Dandelions That Grant Wishes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **“Sometimes it seemed to him that his life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it was blown to bits.”**   
>  **― Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia**
> 
>  
> 
> Harrison reveals some of his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got a little heavier than I originally expected. I had a cute little idea last night, but it transformed into this more melancholic chapter. Sorry in advance if any of this seems too whack, but I'm just getting back into the groove of writing and I wrote this all today!  
> Space Kid will mostly be referred to as Neil Jr. from now on! (Since his actual name is Neil Armstrong Jr.)
> 
> Also most of this is dialogue from Harrison.

Nobody could figure out what was wrong with Harrison that night.

It was another weekend where everyone gathered at Erid’s house (though she was still gone for school).

He had been fine during the day. It was a bright, hot Saturday and everyone had been thankful to be in the cool basement. There were the customary games and gossip sessions. There was always someone who bothered them at school or a parent making some dumb rule thta the kids didn’t agree with. Max would quietly determine whether these were normal issues or if him and his bat needed to make a midnight appearance.

Everything seemed fine until they had started watching the movie late at night. Neil Jr.  (Space Kid) had picked the movie this time. He said he wanted to watch The Bridge of Terabithia because his class was supposed to read the book soon.

Nobody was at all prepared for how emotional the movie was going to be. There were some tears (mostly from Preston and Neil Jr. himself) and some yelling (“That’s fucking bullshit! He just made a fucking friend!”) and some laughs.

However, Harrison grew uncharacteristically quiet as the story progressed. And when it was time to go, he was as pale as a ghost. Everyone had asked him if he was okay, but he just nodded his head like he was afraid his voice wouldn’t work. He didn’t even open up on his ride home with Nurf.

Nurf had decided not to press anymore, but he gave Harrison a hug before he snuck into his house to avoid his parents.

No one expected to find out the cause of his weird behavior, but hours later, early the next morning, Harrison texted everyone in the group chat.

**From “Magic Kid”**

***Meet me at Excel Christian Academy at 11am.**

* * *

 

Wherever Harrison was sending them must be a death trap.

Max knew logically that they weren’t far from Harrison’s house and so it must be somewhere habitable. However, he could not ignore that this Christian school was out in the middle of nowhere and seemed more like the perfect location to start a horror movie. They could barely find it using Google Maps!

The group had all come two separate groups, based off of who lived closest to who. Nikki drove Neil (since they  live together on the weekends), Neil Jr., and Nerris. Nurf drove Max, Preston, and Dolph in his pick-up truck.

When they finally arrived at the school, it was a secluded area where you could not even see the school behind the trees.

The only indicator that they were in the right place was the large, colorful sign with crosses all over it. “Welcome to Excel Christian Academy!” In smaller print was printed the quote, “the lord only saves those who wish to save themselves”.

Max had the idea that this school was not a place that Harrison had many happy memories of.

The group pulled into the school’s entrance and was surprised to find that the “academy” was actually a large house and not a building. The house had two stories and was as big as Erid’s with a porch and big windows.

Sitting on the porch steps was Harrison, dressed in a plain hoodie and jeans.

They parked in two of the limited parking spaces and went to greet him.

Harrison stood as everyone approached them, with a small strained smile. “Hi guys. I’m sorry to call you out like this but I have something I need to show you.”

Max laid a hand on Harrison’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”

Harrison looked into his face for a moment, but then gave a sharp nod. He took a moment to gaze at everyone else as well before beginning to lead them into the forest behind the school.

It was silent for a time except for the sound of leaves and twigs crunching underfoot.

“When I was a kid, I went to that academy. Pretty much everyone at our church goes there for elementary and middle school. It’s almost like your regular christian school except the teachers are allowed to use corporal punishment. I would get in trouble for the smallest thing and the teachers would hit my hands with the ruler so much that they would swell.”

Harrison said all of this in a quiet, monotone voice. Max could see the boy’s hands clench into fists.

No one dared to interrupt him as he took a deep breath.

“My parents spread all these horrible stories about me and all of the teachers, whether they taught me or not, knew who I was. There was nowhere to hide in that house. When my brother went missing… Everyone knew I was to blame.

“They started finding excuses to spank me more often. I was sent to the principal’s office almost everyday. After my first day of behind spanked in front of my class of three other kids, I ran out of the school. I ran back here, into the woods and hid behind some trees, crying my eyes out. I don’t know how long it took for me to calm down, but no one came to look for me. It was sun down when I decided to walk home.

“The day after that, the principal whooped me and said I was a devil child. I was disobedient and lazy and nothing I would do would ever save me from Hell because I was monster,” Harrison smiled a bitter, ugly smile that Max wished he could wipe away.

“I ran behind the woods again and wished with everything in my little six year old body that I could make my own home back here. I wanted somewhere I could belong. I didn’t want to go to my house, I didn’t want to go back to school. I had nowhere I belonged. Then… it just appeared here.”

“Appeared?” Neil Jr. asked tentatively.

“Yeah,” Harrison said. “I forgot all about it. Because then I met you guys.”

His smile this time was genuine.

“I had a place to run back to when I was feeling down or I needed some help. I had a place to belong. I have no idea if it’s still here or not… But the movie reminded me of it and I wanted to show you guys. I wanted to share this with someone.”

Max reached out and took Harrison’s hand. “Whatever you have to show us, we’re here. And we’ll always be here for you, Harrison. Know that.”

Harrison squeezed his hand and gave him a grateful look.

“I do.”

They walked for a little while longer before the trees all around them began to grow more sparse. As they approached the clearing, everyone could see this large structure. As they grew closer, they could not help but gasp in amazement.

Before them was a large fort, two stories high, made entirely out of branches.

“Woah!” Neil Jr. exclaimed. “Did you build this, Harrison?”

Nikki was already running towards it, eager to explore.

Harrison shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. I just wished it was here and it showed up.

As Nikki flitted about excitedly, Harrison showed everyone through the entrance at the bottom. There were built in alcoves and benches to sit at, but Harrison ignored them for a staircase made from thicker branches. You had to carefully step on them to avoid slipping through the cracks and falling.

Harrison glided up the staircase without looking at his feet at all, like he knew this place by heart.

Max guessed he did.

When they were all on the second floor, there were more little rooms, but these had openings in the walls to serve as windows. Through one of the rooms was another doorway that led out onto a balcony of sorts. There were no railings or walls to box them in, just the floor beneath their feet.

Nikki had somehow managed to make it up there before them. She was already sitting at the edge, dangling her legs over it.

Harrison came and sat down beside her. Slowly taking everything in, the rest of the kids came to either sit at the edge or sit close to Harrison as well.

The view of the forest was calming and beautiful. The soft sounds of cricket chirps, frog croaks, and bird calls added to the serenity. The branches swayed slightly in the soft breeze and still-green leaves floated to the forest floor. Autumn was already here, but the trees didn’t seem ready to change their colors yet.

“The sunsets here are beautiful,” Harrison broke his silence. “I only really get to see the beginnings of them because I needed the light to find my way home. I always wanted to watch it until the end though.”

Max wasn’t comfortable with the wistful longing in his friend’s young face.

“Well, thank fuck for modern technology,” he said, aiming his phone’s flashlight at Harrison.

The boy blinked owlishly as his friends all smiled at him.

“I wanna see the sunset!” Nikki cried. “This is, like, the best adventure ever!”

“Yeah! This is so cool, Harrison!” Neil Jr. agreed.

Nerris punched his arm playfully. “You’ve been holding out on us! We could have been camping out here! Especially in the summer!”

“We’ve gotta show Erid when she comes back!”

“This is incredible!”

“Next time we’ve gotta bring blankets and stuff!”

Harrison looked around at all of his friends’ happy faces and couldn’t help the smile that grew on his own. “Okay!”

* * *

 

The hours were passed merrily as they waited for the sunset.

Nikki suggested they play tag and other games. Harrison wasn’t feeling up to all the excitement, but no one forced him to participate. Nerris and Max sat on either side of him to keep him company.

When the sun began to set, everyone had rushed back up to the balcony. (They found the ladder built into the wall that allowed Nikki to bypass going inside the fort itself.)

Laying and leaning all over each other, all of the Camp Camp kids watched the sun sink behind the treeline, bathing the horizon in rich oranges and reds. Only when the last traces of light disappeared did the kids leave Harrison’s sanctuary.

Max sidled beside Harrison as they took up the rear. “Thank you for sharing this with us, Harrison.”

Harrison nodded.

They walked in companionable silence for a while before Harrison spoke up again.

“Max, that school is evil. I know there have to be other kids like me there. That they single out.”

Max looked to his friend in the dark, taking in his solemn expression.

“This has been bothering you,” Max stated.

Harrison nodded.

Max turned to look ahead. “Consider it done.”

* * *

What I imagine the fort looks like, mostly:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like the chapter! Also if it says I updated the story more than once, I didn't actually. I just noticed some spelling or grammar mistakes in previous chapters and I'm fixing them! I hope to see you again over the summer (maybe in a couple of weeks?) and I'm wishing you the best!  
> Sorry that I'm not good at descriptions.  
> Please comment and let me know any thoughts you have!


	6. Double, Double Toil and Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween Camp
> 
> There isn't a lot of dialogue. I couldn't think of any significant enough moments for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Space Kid is Neil Jr.)

It was a yearly tradition that all of the kids got together for halloween a week in advance to plan out the event. Now that they were all in high school, they had more freedom to do what they wanted, but there were still limitations. No one was doing any big or elaborate costumes, because everyone knew that shit was expensive. 

Max would be paying for his costume with money he worked for himself. Nurf’s mom’s salary as released convict was not that great. And Harrison wasn’t even supposed to be out on the “devil’s day” and had to rely on the kindness of his friends, as well as hide any costume from his parents. 

So it was a long-honored ritual to do all of their holiday shopping at thrift stores. The group would actually thrift store hop, scanning all of the local stores before they started travelling farther away if they couldn’t find something passable. 

Some of the kids picked specific characters and so were harder to search for. Other kids were something generic or common and were easily appeased. Preston was, by far, the pickiest of them all, and ended up touching a couple of the costumes (especially his own) up with his sewing skills. 

They were beginning to grow out of trick-or-treating, but, fuck it, free candy, right? No matter what the group would do, they would all enjoy themselves because they were doing it together. 

* * *

 

As part of the SGA at Thomas Nelson High, it was Neil’s job to help with the school’s “safe Halloween”. Each year, the county assigned each high school a different age group to cater to and had to decorate the halls accordingly and run a safe, indoor trick-or-treating experience. 

This year, Thomas Nelson got toddlers until age seven. The idea was that children wouldn’t get lost on the streets or be exposed to anything unduly frightening. Max thought that sometimes kids just needed a good scare to keep them on their toes or keep them from doing stupid shit, but that’s probably why he wasn’t a parent. 

Bored and not wanting to leave Neil to fend for himself, Preston and Max decided to stay after and help as well. The theme happened to be Disney this time. 

Max couldn’t hold in his snort as he slapped the fifth Olaf sticker onto a blank part of the wall. “Why couldn’t we have the older kids? Did you hear that Lesley Heights got to do a fucking haunted house this year? I would have chainsawed the fuck outta those assholes.” 

Preston snorted from where he was taping paper snowflakes onto the lockers. 

“Max, you scare the shit out of people on a fairly regular basis,” he laughed. “You don’t need to look for excuses to do it more.” 

Max sighed. “What if I  _ want _ to?” 

Preston bumped Max’s hip with his own. 

Max gave his boy a cheeky grin to show he was mostly joking. Not like he didn’t know already anyway. They worked a bit more before Max interrupted their peace again. 

“And aren’t I a little too scary for this baby stuff anyway?” Max gestured at himself. 

He had decided to dress up as a vampire this year. He was wearing dress pants and one of those old frilly dress-shirts Hollywood tried to convince you the pirates would wear. (“I know the pirates did not give a shit about the state of their clothes. They didn’t fucking bathe… Like ever.”) Over the white shirt, he wore a bright red cape that he was surprised they had at Goodwill. He had decided to forgo the stupid plastic fangs, knowing that they would annoy him the entire time. 

Preston had joked that they should spray him with body glitter. (“You could be like the vampires from Twilight! Everyone always said Edward Cullen looked ‘super yummy’.” “Preston, I will fucking make sure your body is never found.”) That didn't happen. Obviously. 

The drama king himself decided that he wanted to dress up as Veronica from the Heathers. 

Yes, Max knew exactly who that was. Yes, Max knew almost the whole soundtrack. You don’t just date the biggest theatre geek in the whole universe and not walk away knowing the words to Candy Store. That’s just not how things work. 

Preston had managed to find a blue plaid skirt at a thrift store a half hour away from town and repurposed one of his grandmother’s old blazers from when she went to that all-girl’s catholic school. He bought knee-high blue socks and found some of his grandmother’s old heels as well. 

Max was having trouble looking away from his boyfriend’s long, long legs. 

Neil’s frequent clearing of his throat or elbow jabs to his stomach certainly helped though. 

Neil was dressed as Frodo from Lord of the Rings. He too had somehow found a green cloak to wear over some brown shorts. He refused to go barefoot though, so he was borrowing his dad’s flip flops to complete the look. 

They continued trading jokes and goofing off a bit as they finished decorating the Frozen hall and set up buckets of candy and stickers and such. When four o’clock rolled around, the three were ready with treats to pass out in their hallway. 

The children began to trickle in, some still holding their parents’ hands and some able to carry their own bag/bucket for their goodies. 

One five year old girl came up to Max to get something from him. 

“What are you?” she asked. “I’m Strawberry Shortcake.” 

Max could tell with the aggressive amounts of pink and strawberry stickers on her face. 

“I’m a vampire.” Max said with a sharp smile. 

The girl looked at him, obviously confused. “You don’t look like a vampire at all! Vampires are supposed to be scary and bloody.” 

Max shrugged. “I guess I’m just not that scary, kid.” 

Neil and Preston snickered together, not fazed at all when Max leveled them with a cool look. 

“Oh!” The girl snapped. “I know! You’re a prince! A handsome prince and- you!” 

She pointed at Preston. “I guess you’re the princess? You’re not really dressed as a princess, but I guess that’s okay!”

Preston blushed a little. It seemed it was Max’s time to laugh while the girl flounced away, obviously happy with figuring out the greatest mysteries of life. 

“Are you my princess, baby?” 

The boy shoved his shoulder. “Quit it, Max!” 

Neil was on all fours, wheezing into the floor. A passing kid rubbed his back and asked if he was okay, which just made it harder to catch his breath. 

Preston rolled his eyes. “I am surrounded by idiots.” 

He ignored as Max gasped, pretending he was offended. 

An older boy approached them soon after. He thanked them all for the candy they each give them, but then he turned curious eyes to the Playwright. “Excuse me, but you’re a boy, right?” 

“Yep!” 

“I didn’t know boys could wear skirts. Isn’t it weird?” 

Preston knelt down to face the boy better. “It’s different. But it’s not bad or anything. People can wear whatever they want! People might not like it, but you should do what makes you happy. I really liked this character so I wanted to dress up as her. Is that weird?” 

The little boy shook his head. “I really like Buzz Lightyear so I dressed up like him this year!” 

“It’s such a cool costume! You look really good!” Preston smiled at the boy. 

“Thank you! I think next year I’m gonna be Rapunzel! Thanks, Mister!” 

The three waved as the boy ran off. 

“Alright, I’m ready to go now,” Max huffed. 

* * *

Nurf swung by to pick them up after the Treat-Along was done at Thomas Nelson. He was dressed in a large Captain America Costume they had found. (Minimal tearing. He argued that the rips added character, but Preston said that he couldn’t let his friend look like a hooligan.) 

They had decided in advance that they would all meet up at Nerris’ house. They would trick-or-treat in their neighborhood since the neighbors were generous and gave out a lot of candy. 

When they arrived, they were ushered past the decorated porch and into the living room. The rest of their friends were lounging around on the couch and the floor. 

Neil Jr. quickly stood up when he caught sight of them. “Hey! You guys are here now!” 

The boy was dressed up as Dipper from Gravity Falls, his new obsession. It was mostly just an excuse to draw the Big Dipper on his forehead. He was able to buy the boy’s hat from Hot Topic, but the rest of the getup was all salvaged. Cargo shorts and orange t-shirts were not particularly difficult to come by. The hardest thing to find was the blue vest. 

“Yep,” Max smirked. “You all look nice.” 

Nerris was dressed in one of their old Renaissance Festival outfits. They were some kind of faerie-merchant or something, with a big skirt and layers and fake pointed ears. Dolph was dressed in a lab coat, dress pants, and makeup scars on his face. He was supposed to be an evil scientist, though Max was going to tease him later about looking like Dexter without the red hair. Harrison was dressed in a large black robe that Preston had embroidered with the Gryffindor house crest and colors so that he could be Harry Potter. Nikki was dressed as Lara Croft with cargo pants, fake gun holsters, and a tight white tank top. Her hair was slicked back in the signature ponytail. 

“You all ready?” 

The kids all cheered. 

* * *

 

Trick-or-treating was uneventful, but fun. Their pillowcases and bags were all filled to the brim. There were a couple of adults who had given them the stink-eye. 

“Aren’t y’all a little too old for trick-or-treating?” 

Max told them to kindly mind their fucking business. 

They were swiftly running out ground to cover and were getting tired of walking. They stopped to debate on what they were going to do next when Nikki got a text. 

“Oh! It’s Becky from Chemistry.” 

**From (Re)Becca**

***yo niks, come over i’m having this party thing**

**To (Re)Becca**

***can i bring some friends?**

**From (Re)Becca**

***yeah idc just hurry up, it’s kinda boring and i need someone to talk to**

“New plan, guys!” Nikki exclaimed. “We’re crashing a party!” 

There were some cheers around while others just shrugged. They might as well. 

They hightailed it back to Nerris’ house, explained to their parents, promised that they’d be safe, and all packed into Nikki’s car and Nurf’s truck. 

When they arrived, they could hear the music from outside the house. 

Max looked at each of them in turn. “Ground rules. Not a drop of alcohol if you’re under 16. And anyone drinking gets no more than one beer or whatever. Don’t leave your drinks or food anywhere and only drink from something that was bottled and is unopened. Go nowhere completely alone. If shit goes down, we’re getting the fuck outta here. I doubt this is going to be a wild scene, but I want all of you safe. Do you understand?” 

Everyone nodded or shrugged. They knew better than to get wasted at some random party or trust anyone they didn’t know. 

Nikki led the way and opened the door. 

It wasn’t locked, Max noted in distaste. Not that anyone would hear any knocking with the music blasting, but still. He hung at the back, letting his kids get in, before shutting and locking the door behind him. 

“Niks!” A girl cried when they rounded the corner to the kitchen. She threw her arms around Nikki and hugged her close. 

“Hey Becky!” Nikki yelled to be heard. 

Max rolled his eyes and left Nikki to deal with her - at the very least tipsy - friend. He grabbed his boyfriend’s hand and dragged him to a corner where there weren’t a lot of kids hanging about. They got some curious looks, but Max couldn’t care less. They laughed and talked softly in the corner as he surveyed the room from around his boyfriend’s slim frame. 

Nerris, Dolph, and Neil Jr. ended up curled up together on the couch shortly after finding that there were no good snacks. Nurf was being chatted up by this blonde girl that was dressed as - Max raised his eyebrows - Harley Quinn. But with extremely short shorts. 

Max smirked. “Go, Nurfington!” 

Max could just see Harrison and Neil standing in the kitchen through the open arch. Nikki was still being attacked by her friend. 

There was nothing much to actually do. The songs were bland and they didn’t know a lot of them. There was no dancing. Half of the teens were asleep or drinking anyway. 

The group had only been there for an hour or so before Max could tell that everyone was bored and tired. Nerris and Neil Jr. had actually fallen asleep at some point. Nurf had abandoned the random Harley to lay on the couch on the other side of Dolph. 

“Alright, this shit blows. Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to crank these out before I lose motivation/interest again.  
> Don't expect that they'll stay this frequent!  
> I was going to wait until July to post this, but I'm very impatient and I want to know everyone's opinion. Please don't hesitate to give feedback, I want to hear your thoughts! 
> 
> Also I wrote a chapter that is mostly an article that has to do with the previous chapter. I'm not sure if you guys will like it, but there's no reason to keep it to myself.


	7. Ask and I'll Make It So

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max always keeps his promises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is that article chapter I was talking about. I don't know what possessed me, but it was pretty fun writing it and it's cool that it's not all the way in Max's perspective. 
> 
> Hope you guys like this little mini chapter!
> 
> P.S. My little weird name for it in my google drive is "sabotage camp".

Max woke up to a notification on his phone from the news app. 

_ "Christian Private School in Newman County Shut Down for Illegal Activities” _ **,** read the title. 

Max let a satisfied smirk slide onto his face as he clicked to read the rest of the article. 

* * *

_ Christian Private School in Newman County Shut Down for Illegal Activities _

**Background**

Deep in Newman County, there resides a Christian Private School named Excel Christian Academy. The academy is secluded in a wooded area where phone service is nearly non-existent. 

The school is set in the house of the former founder of the school who passed away 65 years ago. The school was founded in 1932 by Allison Hemsworth. After her husband passed away in World War I, with no children of her own, Hemsworth decided to transform their home into an institution of learning. 

She was a firm believer of Proverbs 13:24 in which the proverb “Spare the rod, spoil the child” was derived. Corporal punishment was, if not the only form of punishment, the form of punishment that was used most. There was a paddle in every room, mounted on the wall. Hemsworth believed that this would deter any children from “ungodly thoughts and activities”, as she is cited from her diary that is kept in the headmaster’s office. 

**The Investigation**

It is important to understand the background of this school in order to understand how this affects modern day. Corporal Punishment was banned statewide in 1979. There were no county exemptions allowed and private schools or boarding schools or other institutions are expected to adhere to the laws as well. 

It is stated clearly in the law that “Corporal Punishment is an inhumane and cruel form of educating children. It is especially unlawful for Corporal Punishment for persons other than a child’s parents to physically harm that child. The state shall not allow any institute government regulated or otherwise to participate in these heinous acts which include spanking with hands, paddles, switches, or other instruments; hitting with fists and other objects; pinching; or other acts that would cause the child any physical pain.” 

Our news company received an anonymous tip that Excel Christian Academy still performs Corporal Punishment on its students. We decided to investigate the allegations. Our crew drove in a discreet car on a Sunday afternoon when the school was closed and empty. 

The school was almost completely obscured by the tall trees all around. Outside of the small entrance to the parking lot, there was a sign. “Welcome to Excel Christian Academy,” it read. And in smaller print : “ the lord only saves those who wish to save themselves”. Our crew already had an eerie feeling, but we decided to give the school the benefit of the doubt. We knocked on the door, hoping that there would be someone to interview, but there was no reply.  Watch our initial visit to the school here.

We decided to do some more research and then return at a later date. We poured over records to find people who had previously attended the academy. We were able to contact three people, though we will allow them to remain nameless for their privacy and protection. 

One of them confirmed that Corporal Punishment was used, but it was “God’s will” and a “righteous way” to be raised. “God only saves those who wish to be saved,” she quoted dutifully. 

The other two confirmed that Corporal Punishment was used as well, but they both stated that they believed it was wrong. “I would have welts for days, if not weeks one said.” “They would spank us with a paddle in front of the whole class for something as small as ‘disgraceful handwriting’.”  Listen to our interview recordings here.

Soon after, we decided to infiltrate the school as parents wanting to enroll their child in the academy. We came as a couple, Mac Reymond and I, Michelle Kristen, decked in hidden cameras and mics. We were lead through the halls by a stern woman Mrs. Hadley Bier who was the secretary. 

She gave us a quick tour of the two levels, allowing us to peek into classrooms briefly. We were sure we had seen a paddle in every classroom we looked into. None of the children were smiling and they ranged from toddlers to teenagers. Students and teachers alike wore all dark and somber colors. 

Mrs. Bier then showed us to the Headmistress’ office. There we got an up-close and personal idea of what discipline looked like. The paddle above the Headmistress’ desk was wooden and thick. It looked like a miniature oar. The Headmistress noted our interest in her paddle. We replied that we believed our fictitious child needed a firm hand. 

She introduced herself as Josephine Cruise and gave us a short history of the school’s background. (All good things, of course.) Headmistress Cruise asked us for information on our child. We obliged with more agreed upon “facts” before asking what discipline was like here.

 The Headmistress smiled and told us that she would give us a demonstration. With the frightening look in her eye, we were a bit afraid that she was going to try out the paddle on us, but instead she escorted us to a classroom we had passed upstairs. 

She entered the room and ushered us inside. She greeted the teacher and asked about the behavior of a particular student. She explained to us that the teachers took him to task themselves but this specific student needed her “full attention”. 

In front of the whole class, she demanded the student to pull down their pants and bend over the desk. My partner and I could see the bruises and welts that were still on his legs and behind. Some bruises were obviously recent and others were in different states of healing. 

The Headmistress proceeded to spank the student in front of all of us. Just because we had asked about discipline. She beat the student with the paddle because we “wanted” to see it, and for no other reason.  See our second visit’s footage.

We left soon after, stating that we were impressed and would be in touch. That night, we submitted all of our research and footage to the Newman County Police Department and wrote an email to the Governor with our findings. 

**Conclusion**

The Excel Christian Academy has been shut down. The staff are all being charged with charges ranging from Child Negligence to Child Endangerment to Child Abuse. Parents who knowingly sent the students to this school may be charged accordingly as well or be made to take mandatory parenting classes and therapy. Children involved will receive free medical care and counseling as well. 

No child will suffer again at this institute.

The NCPD is currently tracking down former employees who will be charged for their crimes that are detailed in the Headmistress’ log. The NCPD are also contacting former students to let them know what benefits they may be eligible for and inform them of the school’s closure. 

* * *

Max was satisfied with how the matter was handled. Extremely satisfied, considering he was the one who had tipped off the news company. He was glad that the shitheads were getting what they deserved, at least in the eyes of the law. If the police hadn’t dealt with this as they had, or nobody had cared, he honestly had plans to burn the building to the ground and pay midnight visits to the staff. 

He knew from the moment Harrison had told him about that hell, he would stop at nothing before those monsters were made to pay for their actions. 

 

**From Magic Boy**

***Max… I saw the news today**

 

**From Magic Boy**

***Thank you. Thank you so much**

 

**To Magic Boy**

***Of course, Harrison. I promised you. And I never go back on my promises.**


End file.
